3 weeks ago
57
ARTICLE AD BOX
Why Biden’s ceasefire efforts might fall short of addressing Iran’s threat.
By MARTIN OLINER DECEMBER 3, 2024 03:07
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House last month.
(photo credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)
King Solomon revealed his infinite wisdom when he wrote philosophically in the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) about everything in the world having its time.
“Everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the heaven,” he wrote. “A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal.”
The king ended by saying there is “a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.”When Solomon’s words were made popular in American culture via a song performed in 1965 by The Byrds, after “a time for peace,” the singers added “I swear it’s not too late.”
President Joe Biden is a proud Irish Catholic who has been known to frequent both churches and synagogues. He is undoubtedly aware of both Solomon’s words and their adaptation by The Byrds.
Unfortunately, he has endorsed the latter version.
Too late for peace in the Middle East
In his speech announcing a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Biden sounded like he has taken the Byrds’ song way too seriously.
“Today’s announcement brings us closer to realizing the affirmative agenda that I’ve been pushing forward during my entire presidency,” he said. “A vision for the future of the Middle East where it’s at peace and prosperous and integrated across borders; a future where Palestinians have a state of their own, one that fulfills its people’s legitimate aspirations and one that cannot threaten Israel or harbor terrorist groups with backing from Iran; a future where Israelis and Palestinians enjoy equal measures of security, prosperity, and – yes – dignity.”
Biden added that to that end, the United States remains prepared to conclude a set of historic deals with Saudi Arabia to include a security pact and economic assurances together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel – a desire they both have.
“I believe this agenda remains possible,” he said. “And in my remaining time in office, I will work tirelessly to advance this vision.”
Just in case he could still persuade people, Biden repeated it twice more, saying that the ceasefire “reminds us that peace is possible. Say that again: Peace is possible. As long as that is the case, I will not for a single moment stop working to achieve it.”
Stay updated with the latest news!
Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter
Sorry, Joe, but I swear it is too late. Achieving Middle East peace by January 20 is not possible. That agenda is not realistic in your last two months in office, so instead of working tirelessly on that, it would be better for you to work tirelessly on something else – or just get some rest.
Advancing the Abraham Accords and bringing about normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia was actually a credible possibility at the beginning of Biden’s term. But he apparently hesitated because he did not want to advance the legacy of his predecessor and, ultimately, his successor, Donald Trump.
The key to bringing about such agreements would have been maintaining pressure on the Iranian regime that views Sunni Saudi Arabia as its nemesis in the battle for supremacy in the Middle East. The Biden administration needed to deter Iran to the point that the Islamic Republic would not have dared to allow its proxies to attack the Jewish state.
Trump is absolutely right when he says that had he been president, there would not have been an October 7 surprise attack on Israel by Hamas. I would add that if Trump had told Iran’s other proxies “don’t” – or used stronger, more Trumpian language – they would not have mocked the man who is supposed to be the leader of the free world and attacked Israel nonstop nevertheless for more than a year.
As I wrote on these pages not too long ago, it is not too late, however, for Biden to adopt a different agenda, surprise the world, and become the hero of the United States, the Jewish state, and the Jewish people. He could even be remembered in history as the savior of Western civilization.
This would require one extremely urgent and courageous step: Biden must bomb Iran, prevent its nuclearization, destroy all its nuclear sites, and overthrow the evil regime of the ayatollahs forever.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to hint cryptically that this option was possible in his own ceasefire announcement last Tuesday.
“Why should we have a ceasefire now?” he asked rhetorically in the taped address. “The first reason is to focus on the Iranian threat, and I won’t expand on that.”
Security cabinet minister Orit Struck went further, telling her supporters that she voted for the American-brokered agreement, because “from my perspective, this is a tactical ceasefire, which is intended to serve strategic, diplomatic and security goals that cannot be elaborated upon at the moment.”
So is Biden really working with Netanyahu on a secret plan to bomb Iran?
BEFORE WE start with any wishful thinking, a good way to check would be to see what Biden’s favorite journalists are writing. Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of Axios, who received an award from Biden, revealed that the president spoke to Netanyahu after Tuesday’s security cabinet meeting and pressured him to make a deal with Hamas.
Ravid reported that “the only topic that came up besides Lebanon was the deal to release the hostages and establish a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Biden himself sounded like he thought the effort against Iran was already over when he said in his ceasefire speech that it was time for Israel to make what he called “some hard choices.”
“Israel has been told on the – has been bold on the battlefield,” Biden managed to say, with difficulty. “Iran and its proxies have paid a very heavy price. Now Israel must be bold in turning tactical gains against Iran and its proxies into a coherent strategy that [will] secure Israel’s long-term – its long-term safety – and advances a broader peace and prosperity in the region.”
The Wall Street Journal’s national security reporter Alexander Ward reported on Thursday that Biden’s surprising Middle East peace strategy is to work with Trump.
“It is a rare sign of tacit agreement with President Biden’s approach that could produce mutual benefits,” Ward wrote. “For Biden, a legacy-defining foreign-policy win before he departs in January; for Trump, one less global crisis that he will have to handle.”
The state sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah is unfortunately nowhere to be found in the report about Biden’s strategy for the rest of his term in office.
That means that either the president is better at keeping a secret than Orit Struck, or he won’t be doing what he really needs to do to make the world a better place. The regime that had the audacity to murder a rabbi in the United Arab Emirates is evidently exonerated.
That is very disturbing, but at least the American people elected a president who has proven that he knows how to take action against Iran and will be able to clean up Biden’s blunders. President Trump will stop Iran’s nuclearization, make the Middle East safer, and – just like Reagan after taking over from Jimmy Carter – bring the hostages home.
In Carter’s presidency, hostages were held in Iran. Now they are being held by Iran’s proxies in Gaza. Either way, the Iranian regime needs to be held accountable, and this apparently won’t happen until Trump takes over.Trump understands that in a dangerous world, there must be a time to kill. Only after that can the true healing take place.
I swear it’s not too late.
The writer is chairman of the Religious Zionists of America, president of the Culture for Peace Institute, and a committee member of the Jewish Agency. He currently serves as a member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council, appointed by Donald Trump during the president-elect’s first term. The views expressed here are his own. You can reach him at Martinoliner@gmail.com.
English (US) ·